Aircraft



' NOV. 24, 1931. c, w CRQQKE. JR 1,833,416

AIRCRAFT Filed Aug. 25, I930 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 N v. 24, 1 1. c. w. CROORE, JR 1,833 416.

AIRCRAFT Filed Aug. 25, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ag-z f 1/; Cfiar/es wamm e, 7

Patented Nov. 24,1931

CHARLES w. cRooKE, 0F JAQKSONVILLE-ILORiDA momirr' lppl ication filed August 25, i930. Seria1 No.477, 7691.

The subject-matter of the present inven tionrelates generally to aircraft, and the improvements are directed to a novel form of collapsible wing structure adapted to be ,ex tended from, or retracted into, the fuselage p equippedwithmyinvention; v Fig. 2 is afragmentary front elevation of or cabin portion ofan airplane. v

As will presently appear, the primary obof a wing structure of the above-mentioned character, which may be extended from the fuselage of the plane to provide additional wing surface when taking OK or landing, said additional wing surface. permitting of slow landingand take-oft speeds and the support ofgreater loads, said wing being susceptible of retraction withinthe fuselage or cabin por-f 'tion of the machine while in flight, thus reducing wind resistance and permitting greater speeds.

vide means in the form of guide rodsfor sup- "porting thewing in extended position from the fuselage of the plane, said rods being Another object is to provide means foi'sup porting said guide rods.

cated between and along said guide rods.

Still anotherobject is to provide means for coupling said sections ofsaid wing.

provide novel means whereby said wing secfl' "tions' may be arranged" in superimposed fen spaced relation within said airplane, said means being susceptible of operationto elevate and connect the wing sections together prior to their extension along said guide rods. Another important objectis to provide means whereby the individual sections may be extended'from and retracted into said airplane. I "With these objects in view, together with.

others which will appear as-the description proceeds, the invention resides in the novel formation, combination, and arrangementof parts, all as will be described more fully here- "inafter, 'ticularly ect' of the invention residesin the provision,

Another object of the invention is to pro- 1 rise to couple therewith.

rodjinthis instance illustrated in the'drawings, and parpointed out in the'claims.

In said drawingsk"; f p

, Figure l is a front elevationfofiatypical. form of j'aircraft, of the 'monopl'ane ty e,

the samefwith part-sjbroken; away tofshow the wing sectionshoused within the airplane.

-the wing; and the guide rods, said. section "being, taken substantially on the line,-5,, .5

'ofFig. 1.

substantially on the plane of the line of Fig. 4: to diagrammatically show a wing sectio'nextended with its companion about to Fig. 7 is a sectional View ofja slightly modp fified form of guide rodand wing, section, said Still another object of the'invention reside's in the provision of a novel form ofwing -struc- T ture, embodying a plurality of detachablesec tions adapted to be connected and recipro j guide rod forming the leading ledgegof a :iSYa mil 'fnidd fi a t n,[the si p 7 forming the trailingedge of the wing.

; Referr-mg'now more'ind'etail tofthe accoms v V panyingdrawings,"whereinlike characters of, A still further ob ect of the inventionis'to,

a sectional view, somewhat enon the line 33 of F 2, the: guide I Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view,ltaken reference'denote similar parts throughoutthe tion .6 extending laterally therefrom, said several views, let 5 (indicategenerally; the llcabin 'portion of an'airpl'ane, of. the monoplane type,and having the usual wing .por-

wing and cabin portion being adapted to support the various parts willpresently appear.

'As pointed out hereinbefore,;I propose to provide additional wingsurface .for an airplane, and in the present instance, the use of my invention converts the well-lmownmonoof my invention, as

plane type of machine into a biplane,]thus lelismbelow said wing 6 and extending from I both sides of the cabin portion 5, the inner :ends of said rods being suitably affixed to 1 the side of the cabin, as indicated at 9, (see .Fig. while their outer ends are connected by a cross-bar 10, each being joined to: the. p V p v aforesaid, and as the rotationof said gear" wing6 byrmeans of the vertical rods 11 and 12.. .Ifdesired, further support may be pro-""' c tweenpsaid rOdshZE'andi-SLand substantially in vided by theaddi ion .ofithea diagonal :braces 13'a-nd114 extending from the said cabin 5,

as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Fro'mthe' foregoing it is obvious that said rods 7 and 8 are adequately maintained in a* fixed*po si tion to withstandfwindl pressureior. other... forces tending toidisplaceisaid rods; While said rods and their supporting means may be-..' come a per nanentfixture to said 'monoplane when in flight, 'itawill, of course, be under.-

st ood that means may beprovi'ded vto foldme r 4 and .ofsaidgelevator. In view of this same alongside thegcabin of said plane. I As previously explained,ji't ,isjproposed to.

, provide .a' wing which may :be retracted' -into f the cabin or fuselage ofaeplane' whenithe lat; I

Isa'id section 1 1.6,. andthcl gcar. 26, whereupon ter is in fli ght,thuslnaterially-reducing wind;

'" resistance. and at the same time permitting of- V jgreaterspeed'of the plane. My novel form of; wing structure comprises ofp'lurality of.

sect-ions'whi'ch in the present instance are. 7 designated by the numera'ls'l 5 ,,16, 17 andi l8,.r "each being similar in construction andassum-Q. .ing theconfiguration shown in Fig. 4. Nor; mally. said sections are housed: within 7 the cabin of the plane, wherein they areuinaim, tained in ,superimposed spaced relation by. ""meansof rails 19 and 20, disposed in spaced 1 relationat both sides of the, elevator 21 Said i elevator comprises side walls 22 and 23 and;

tending inwardly oi 'saidrwalls 22 and23, as

abottom portion 2 l, said'rails 20 and 19ieX shown. It willbe seen thatjthe arrangement is such, that normally saidsection ,15 is p0si;,.

tioned opposite the opening 25 and in ,align., .mentwith saidrods 7, and 8,, whe'reas the. other. sections are disposed directly; beneath *said :section, each section being detached from its-companion. Said section lbbeing, in the position aforesaid, itlisonly' necessary to providemeans to slide the sameflth'rough; theiop'ening 25 between said rods] and 8,

and itkwill be observe d that I 'haveprovided. "a'spurgear 26, afiixedto a rotatable shaft27z,

1 carried by] saidlcabim, said gear 26..,enmesh-,

ing with arack 28- positi'onedfon the top sur.-'

facefof said section 15. Asshown in the drawings, each section will beprOvidedwith a rack 28, and: the.rotation of shaft maybe reflected by manual means inqthe form of aj cranlngor the'like, or the same may be motor- 1 driven, asdesireds saidlsectionsinaybeslid.

' in andyout the method shown, by the use of a chain cable, pneumatic pumporlother suitable means, Eroin the foregoing it isapparent that the.

rotary'movement' of said gear 26, enmeshed with rack 28, of section 15,, causes the latter the i'rontand rear faces of each of the sections are provided with extensions 29 and 30,

which enter slots 31and32 in rods 7 and 8 respectively as.tl1e s ection= 15 is a'dvanced as 26 continues, said section 15 is extended bethe position indicated in. Fig. 6. Having exwheel =havingj ournalled Y therewith a drum 35 and. 36' having rhea; other extremities connectedto theupper edgeofthesideavalls 22 raised sulficientiy to enineslr the. rack 28., cl

, said gear 26 isjop eratedas beforerto "slide-said section 16 .betweenthe' ,rails.T an d sand this inovenientalso advances section lolalong said rails. This" procedure is continuedzuntil v all the sections I are slidably spositio ned. between the irails, a and thus, the ;.complete wing is .iormedlf Wh leisaid sect ons-do notcsubsitan- 'tially comprlse the entire Wln served inFigs. land 5..that said rails 7 ends are. formed to present the leadingland Itrail .ingledges dfthew ng and hence sa d sections and: rods .7; and 8 united-1y. completethesfor cilitating the cooperating. between said slots and? extensions. .ri-Obviously, .saidmdruina 34S maybe notor driveii, if desired. I p .ldlithitheauxlliarywlngs spread as shown in Fig, 1,;Ithe .monopzlane nowtb'ecomesia biplane iwithf all. the, attendant advantages, as .a-foresfaidl. WYhen it is desired to retract the wings, as in flight, or. other times, :the spur gear 26', which was left Lenineshed with the -IearIpo-rtion oftherack 2801? said section 18, as rotated to netractls'aid sectioningto the. cabin. vObvimlsly, it is necessary toprovidemean i' whereby the sections are conpledtogether a-itgwai beebtend edone section it becomes'necessary to. raise' the other sections so that said gear 26 #mayop'erate -asbefore. To this end, said elevator, 211's. raised by. operating ,ahandfiwheel "I; 83, suitablylarrangedrwithinsthe cabin, said 341011110- which are wound the iflexiblegelenients a {arrangement it .isfonlynecessary;togoperat-e isaidnha'nd.wheell33 untll .the. sfiCtion 16 1s during their passage.betweenzthe rods '7 and '8, or; else .onlysaid-section 18} can be retracted. Inthisregard, attention isdirected to-Fig. wherein it will benoted that the rearlower surface. ofsaidsection- 15 .provided='with apertures .37, .whilethe forward portions of each of the sections 16,17, and 18 is provided ill.

7 into the cabin by operating the gear 26 as aforesaid and thus as the section 18 slides onto the rails 19 and 20, the elevator is lowered to permit the next section 17 to slide on the rails above the section 18 and this operation is continued until all the sections are housed within the cabin.

Obviously, the number of wing sections will depend upon the length of the wing structure and while Fig. 1 shows the auxiliary wings as extending from the cabin a distance less than the length of the wing 6, it will be understood that said auxiliary wings may be dimensioned to closelyapproximate said wing 6 in spread. I

It will, of course, be understood that the structure just described is duplicated for the other side of the plane and that the wing sections may be half the width of the cabin so that the two sets of sections are in juxtaposition. Under some situations they may be of a width of the cabin by alternating the sections to go on opposite sides of the cabin one above the other. 1

WVhile the roller bearings 29a and 30a facilitate the passage of the sections along the rods 7 and 8, it will be noted that said rollers are suitably angled to take care of the upward and backward wind pressure on the sections. Likewise, the contiguous faces of the sections and the rods 7 and 8 are angled as shown.

In the forms shown in Figs. 7 and 8, the

extensions 38a and 39 are each provided with pulleys or rollers 40 and 4.1, pintles 42 and 43 being provided, said pintle 42 carrying rollers 4A and 45, while pintle 43 carries rollers 46 and 47. In this instance, rollers 4 1, 45, 46 and 47 take care of backward wind pressure on the wing sections, while rollers 40 and 41 take care of the upward pressure on the sections. When the plane is not in flight the weight of the sections rests on rollers 40. and 41. Obviously, the rails 19 and 20 may be provided with rollers to permit free movement of the sections thereover.

While the presentis a disclosure of the preferred embodiment of the invention, it is tobe understood that the invention is not limited thereto, as various changes in the minor details of construction, proportion and arrangement of parts 7 may be resorted .to without departing from the spirit of the in .vention as defined in the appended claims.

projection through the opening I claim: I p

1. In an airplane,a pair of spaced guide rods extending laterally therefrom, a wing comprising a plurality of detachable sections adapted to slide laterally along said rodsv and means for maintaining. said wing sections in superimposed relation within said airplane. 3 I

2. In an airplane, a pair of spaced guide rods, a wing comprising a plurality .of'detachable sections adapted to slide alongsaid rods, means for maintaining said-wing sections in superimposed spaced relation within said airplane and means for elevating said.

sections. I

3. In an airplane, a slidable wing and a pair of guide rods extending from said airplane andadapted to support said wing, said rods forming respectively the leading and trailing, edges of said wing.

4. In an airplane, a wing comprising a plurality of detachable sections, a pair of rods extending from said airplane, means for supporting said sections in superimposed-.relation within said airplane, means for ele-I vating said sections, means for'connecting said sections and means for sliding the se ctions along'said guide rods. V p

5. In an airplane, a wing comprising a plurality ofv detachable sections normally in the airplane, means for coupling said sec tions together, means for extendmg said sections from said airplane and guide rods for support ng said wmg sections, sald rods forming respectively the leading and trailing edges of the wing. V V

6. In an airplane, a wing comprising a P1111 rality of detachable sections, each section presenting. extensions 7 extending from the front and rear face of said section, a pair of, guide rods extending from said airplane, each havinga longitudinal groove to slidably receive the extensions of said sections and means for sliding the sections along said guide rods. I

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

' CHARLES W. CROOKELJR. 

